The tide of the Midwest is rolling into Ames this Friday. The Iowa State women’s cross country team is preparing to hold off that tide as teams head to Ames for the NCAA Midwest Regionals.

The women’s cross country team will be running on Nov. 10 in Ames, Iowa, at 10:45 a.m. 

Coming off its sixth win in the last seven years at the Big 12 Championship, the Cyclones are looking to keep their winning ways here in Ames when the team faces off against the fierce opponents of the Midwest. However, one advantage the team holds is that the race is on their own course.

“Running on our own course is huge,” said freshman Cailie Logue. “It is our house, we know that we have to run our best coming off the Big 12s. We know the ends and outs of the course so we are looking to use that as an advantage.”

Another difference on Friday will be the weather. For the Big 12 Championships, the race was held in Round Rock, Texas.

“The weather will be a huge factor for the race,” said senior Anne Frisbie. “We are looking to use our home field to our advantage, we know the shortcuts and know where to cut a bit of distance from the visiting teams.”

The Cyclones are looking to have another successful Midwest Regionals similar to last year where they ran to a third-place finish. Minnesota is one team that they aren’t taking lightly.

“Minnesota has a solid one through five runners that we are preparing to battle,” Logue said. “Coach [Andrea Grove-McDonough] has been stressing to the team that we need to run our best to compete.”

Grove-McDonough has high praise for her team and is confident that they are ready to run this Friday.

“The girls are calm and composed leading up to Friday,” Grove-McDonough said. “The team makes it easy on me as a coach. They all go out there and lead by example. They do not let the outside pressures of hosting the tournament get to them. They use it as motivation to show the other Midwest teams how they can run.”

The team knows that they have to run solid this week and build off that to run in the NCAA Championships in Louisville, Kentucky. The team takes it day by day and focuses on the task at hand, defending their home field.

There are 35 other teams that are looking to dethrone the Cyclones, but they are looking to build off their win to hold the visitors off.

“We proved what we are capable of at the Big 12s,” Frisbie said. “We have to keep the wheels turning for regionals because we know that keeping our winning ways is huge with the NCAA Championships in the near future. We control our own destiny and we know our hard work will pay off.”